Smitten
by ne1410jouin
Summary: Kaiba and Yugi are haunted by a memory that they just can't seem to shake. future fic, rivalshipping. unrequited past prideshipping, puzzleshipping
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

A heavy silence hung over the boat taking everyone back to mainland Egypt. Even the waves crashing against the boat sounded muted. Everyone had settled into their rooms, leaving each other alone, sleeping away the grief that came from seeing Atem returning to the afterlife.

_Returning to the afterlife._What a bunch of bullshit.

Kaiba sat with his head in his hands, looking down at his knees. He hadn't moved since they returned to the boat, much less thought about getting some sleep. His cellphone was blinking with ten missed business calls, but he couldn't find it in him to care.

_I refuse to believe he's gone,_he thought bitterly. The memory of the stone slabs opening, the blinding light, the crumbling of the rocks around them, an outstretched hand… Kaiba shivered nauseously. _He's not gone. He can't be._

A quiet knocking came from the door to his room. He rotated his neck to look over at it. It was late, very late - nobody in their right mind would be up at this hour. He grimaced at his own hypocrisy and stood, shaking his stiffened limbs out before walking briskly to the door. If they were coming to him at this hour of the night, it was important.

With a click of the lock, he swung the door open - only to feel his heart sink in his chest and his stomach churn.

"Yugi," he said coldly, praying his voice sounded as level as he willed it to.

"Kaiba," Yugi said, nodding seriously, contradicting the wobbling of tears in his eyes. "I'm glad you're awake. I was hoping we could talk-"

"Talk about what?" Kaiba said quickly, coolly. He felt nothing but boiling anger upon looking at Yugi - the boy who had sent his rival away, who took his rightful spot as the final duelist against Atem…no, the Yugi Kaiba _knew. _"I have nothing to discuss with you, Yugi. Go back to your room."

He went to shut the door, but Yugi slipped through the crack, forcing his way inside. Kaiba glared down at him, but refrained from saying anything. He turned on his heel and walked away from Yugi, hoping he'd see himself out, but the annoying brat followed him further into the room, staying on his heels like a puppy.

"Yugi," Kaiba said in a warning tone, but Yugi did not back off.

"We need to talk, Kaiba."

"About what?" Kaiba said, attempting to keep his frayed temper calm. He dug his nails into calloused palms. "You won your duel, Yugi. That's it. It's over."

"It's not, though, is it," Yugi said cryptically, though Kaiba knew exactly what he was getting at. It pissed him off to no end.

He sat down, crossing his arms. Yugi continued to stand, looking down over the back of the couch at Kaiba. Through clenched teeth, Kaiba continued. "Your persistence is tiring."

"I'm sorry."

Kaiba looked over his shoulder. "For what?"

"Taking your last duel." Kaiba's entire body froze. Yugi looked down at his chest, hands cupping at the end of a chain, at something that was no longer there. A nervous habit that would take months to break. "You wanted to, but…I had to. So I'm sorry-"

_Sorry?_Kaiba could not believe the words that were coming out Yugi's mouth. _Sorry? _"You're sorry?" He let out a barking laugh, which made the smaller boy jump frightfully. "You're _sorry? _Don't make me laugh, Yugi. You're not sorry. If you were sorry, you'd…you'd…"

"I'd have let Atem win," Yugi said sadly. He knew. He _knew._

Kaiba paused, rubbing at his lips. Was Yugi pitying him? Implying that his greatest rival losing to someone other than Yugi would have solved this? His hands were shaking, but he couldn't discern why. He glanced over at Yugi, and a surge of anger flowed through him. This boy, this _kid _\- he had done what Kaiba had never done. Beat Atem. The thought alone made Kaiba feel sick. And was enough to send Kaiba over the edge - this Yugi, the stranger in his room, didn't understand a single thing.

"Get out of my room," Kaiba growled slowly, holding his stare on Yugi. "Get the _hell _out of my room."

"Kaiba-"

Kaiba launched upwards, grasping the front of Yugi's shirt. "Don't ever show your face around me again," Kaiba seethed, his voice rising higher than he would have liked. "You're not the Yugi _I _know, not anymore. You're an imposter to me. The real Yugi's-"

"Dead," Yugi said weakly, lifting a hand and pulling Kaiba's fingers away from being clenched in his shirt. He showed a pained smile, but his eyes didn't meet Kaiba's. "Sorry, Kaiba."

_Dead._It didn't feel real to Kaiba. He looked down at the hand that had been entangled with the fabric of Yugi's shirt mere seconds before. Had he ever touched Yugi like that before? At the click of the door shutting, Kaiba slumped to his knees, his hands shaking.

_Dead. Atem was dead, forever._

A droplet of water slid down Kaiba's face. He raised a shaking hand up to his face and held it against his weeping eyes, his expression turning ugly as his crying became sobs.

_He was gone._

For the first time, Kaiba didn't know what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaiba had nearly forgotten. Nearly being the key word.

It had been ten years. _Ten years. _

He stood at the front of a presentation to his board of committee members, stalled mid-speech, as his eyes caught the familiar hairstyle through the glass walls of the lobby next door. The head disappeared, and Kaiba resumed his presentation, business-like and proper, apologizing to the men and women listening to him, but his mind was preoccupied the entire time.

The hair. It couldn't be. He knew it wasn't.

Memories came flooding back as he packed his supplies back into his suitcase. His fingers slipped and he gave himself a paper cut, hissing under his breath.

"Mr. Kaiba, are you alright?" a young woman who had been watching his presentation asked, noticing his blunder.

"Fine," Kaiba brushed her off, all but sprinting out of the meeting hall.

Why had he been here? What was he thinking? Kaiba's teeth dug at his lower lip. Had he been looking for him? _Why?_

Was _he _back?

The adrenaline was causing his head to rush, but he couldn't help it. The unknown feeling of excitement flooded through him as he approached the man behind the lobby desk.

"Excuse me," he asked, and the man listened attentively. "Did someone with weird hair just come through here…his name should be Yugi Muto, if I'm remembering it right-"

"Ah, yes," the man said, nervously looking through the pages of people who had checked in. "A Mr. Muto was here around fifteen minutes ago. Was he here to see you?"

"Where did he go?"

The man provided no help. Kaiba felt strangely empty - he followed the direction the man pointed him in, but without any further knowledge of where to look, his search would be pointless.

He aimlessly walked down the bustling city street, hoping to maybe spot the boy's hair amongst the crowd. His search was coming up dry the longer he walked - maybe he had gone the wrong way, completely missing his chance at-

"Kaiba?"

Kaiba froze on the spot. He turned slowly, mechanically, looking down with a quick beating heart. The deep voice, the hair -

_Atem_?

"Wow, it's really you," Yugi said. Kaiba's hope dwindled away to nothing. Yugi Mutou, aged ten years, stood before him. He looked as young as ever, as if he hadn't aged since Kaiba last saw him. Kaiba had begun to notice the signs of aging on himself in the mirror, and seeing the years on Mokuba solidified the fact that time was passing. "What a coincidence, huh?"

"Yugi," Kaiba said formally, nodding a greeting. They stood in silence in the middle of the sidewalk, sizing each other up. Yugi was looking at him expectantly, and Kaiba glanced at his watch. "Let's do lunch."

Yugi followed him to a restaurant he knew well and frequented often. It wasn't the nicest place, but it definitely was no typical cafe.

It was already after they sat and ordered their meals that they started talking.

"It's been a while," Yugi said conversationally, stirring the ice in his water around with the straw.

Kaiba stared at him over laced fingers. "Did you move out of Domino City?"

"I've been traveling," Yugi said vaguely. "I came back for the wedding." He noticed Kaiba's bewildered expression and Yugi made an 'o' shape with his mouth. "You weren't invited. I'm not surprised. It's Jounouchi's."

Despite the ten-year gap since seeing any of them, the dog's face was clear in Kaiba's mind. "No, I wasn't. I also wasn't expecting to be invited, had I known. I probably wouldn't even be able to go, my schedule is so busy-"

"I've heard good things about KaibaCorp," Yugi said, interrupting Kaiba before he could get his planner out of his suitcase. "My grandpa rants and raves about you guys all the time. Your competitions bring a lot of revenue to the shop, even to this day."

Kaiba tapped absently at the table, a hollow feeling inside of him. He threw the tournaments now out of obligation, not because he particularly enjoyed watching the duels anymore. He hadn't even given his deck a look over in a few months.

"I also heard you weren't partaking in any of them anymore." Yugi smiled, leaning his chin into his hand. "Too old?"

"Never," Kaiba snapped. An old habit. Yugi laughed brightly, taking a drink of his water. Kaiba continued to gaze at him, simply interested in how much Yugi had changed over the decade break between them. He reached up and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, and when he opened his eyes again, Yugi was looking at him. "What?"

"We all missed you," Yugi said calmly, but his eyes were flitting all over the restaurant. Kaiba lowered his hands to the table. "When you disappeared after…_that…_we all tried to contact you. We were worried that you…ah…"

"I wouldn't kill myself over him," Kaiba said icily, cutting to the chase, which made Yugi look uneasily at him. Kaiba scowled. He hadn't told the whole truth - he hadn't tried to commit suicide after Atem's departure, but it hadn't stopped him from considering it. He had grown since then, and now rarely, if ever, even considered it. Imagining Yugi and his group of friends wringing their hands over him nervously made him feel sick.

Yugi looked pleased with the answer, but there was still distrust behind his eyes, his smile not reaching there, as if he knew that Kaiba hadn't told him something vital. "That's good." He smiled warmly as the food was delivered to their table. "I'm really happy you seem to be doing well."

They settled into an oddly comfortable silence as they ate together. Kaiba kept stealing glances up at Yugi. From what Kaiba could deduce, Yugi had come to visit Kaiba because he was visiting Domino City for a wedding. What he couldn't figure out was why he'd do a thing like that - their last meeting had been anything but pleasant, with Kaiba all but telling Yugi to leave him alone forever. Why bother with him?

"Did you only find me to make sure I wasn't dead?" Kaiba asked.

Yugi looked surprised. "We knew you weren't dead after the first month or two, Kaiba. KaibaCorp couldn't run without you."

"Then why are you here?" Kaiba asked, tone accusatory. "What could have possibly gotten into your head that made you think it was a good idea to come meet me again? After ten years, what do you think will have changed? We didn't exactly leave on good footing. I told you to never show your face to me again."

There was a pause. "Do you still hate me?" Yugi asked in a small voice, but a terse one. Kaiba pursed his lips, staring at Yugi through narrowed eyes. He supposed seeing the boy did not bring an intense rage to him anymore, but there was still the lingering of that simmering anger, deep down within him.

However, when he had first seen him, he hadn't thought of Yugi. He had thought of _Atem._

"I thought you were Atem when I first saw you," Kaiba said. It was better to be honest than not to be. Kaiba didn't see much use in lying, anyway. "You really got my hopes up, didn't you?"

He let out a barking, humorless laugh. Yugi did not seem to find that funny. Kaiba was glad - it wasn't supposed to be funny. Yugi's hands nervously shifted on the tabletop. "You still think about him?"

"Of course I do," Kaiba said steadily. How could he not?

The last decade had been rough on Kaiba - the memories, the rejection of Atem's past and their connection, the final moments he had alone with Atem in that tomb before they went on to his final resting place wherein they had stayed silent - they all haunted him. Even as he sat in the restaurant, the ghostly images of Atem, the real Atem, standing before him in Egypt, was starkly clear to him. He was haunted, stuck for life.

He was shocked back to reality when a cool hand rested atop his own. He looked up at Yugi, who was smiling sadly. "Me too."

Kaiba didn't respond.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: thank you for reviewing this fic! im glad ppl are enjoying it :)

Kaiba ended up being dragged around by Yugi for the rest of the day, his planner gone unnoticed in his briefcase. It was surreal to see Yugi again, and Kaiba decided to let himself indulge in the oddness of it all.

Yugi seemed to be dragging him around to places that he had no recollection of. Domino City was a large city, and he was always so busy. How was he supposed to know there was a park here, or a game shop there? How was he supposed to know that the ice cream parlor he had brought Yugi…no, _Atem_ to before had been torn down? He had no time for such trivialities. He definitely didn't feel a pang of longing in his stomach, looking at the paved lot.

And yet, he stood with Yugi as the boy played at an arcade he didn't remember existing, and even found himself yearning to play along, but he felt like he was imposing. This seemed much more akin to something Yugi and Jounouchi would do.

Jounouchi. Kaiba scowled. "So the loser's getting married," he said, breaking Yugi's concentration on his game and causing him to lose.

Yugi groaned, but nodded, starting a new game almost immediately. "Yeah. This weekend."

Kaiba mulled over this news. "Who would marry him?"

"Lots of people, surprisingly," Yugi said, chuckling. Kaiba smiled himself, watching Yugi charge through the game as he spoke. "It's a girl he met around six years ago. They're really in love with each other. It's kind of gross, you know what I mean? But cute."

"I'm surprised a woman would want to put herself through a lifetime of him," Kaiba said dryly. "I could barely handle a few hours, let alone a few minutes." Yugi laughed along, unoffended by Kaiba's jabs. They were getting along, surprisingly, and the conversation flowed easily between them.

But the elephant in the room had not magically disappeared. Maybe it was his age, his stubbornness - but whenever Kaiba looked briefly at Yugi, he'd see someone different. Someone who was stuck in his youth and would never return. Kaiba would do anything to return to the past.

He wanted to ask if Yugi had ever looked into getting the Pharaoh back, but it felt forced. It felt too awkward - how would he react to a question like that? How would Kaiba react to the answer? Was that even possible? With modern technology, maybe, but… Perhaps it was best to leave it unsaid. It was still magical nonsense in the end.

He realized Yugi had been talking to him while he had been thinking. "Sorry?"

"I'd really like you to come to the wedding," Yugi said. "Jou would too."

Kaiba was positive he hadn't heard him correctly. "Me? Go to the wedding? I'm sorry, maybe you didn't hear me earlier, my schedule is packed, and I wasn't invited-"

"If you can take a day off to run around Domino City with me, you can take a day off to go to an old friend's wedding." Kaiba supposed Yugi had a point, but he was still reluctant. Jounouchi and the others had to have been perfectly aware of how Kaiba had yelled and blamed Yugi for Atem's departure. He highly doubted Jounouchi, or their other friends, would react entirely positively to seeing him. "Plus, you could be my plus one." Yugi's invitation did not swing Kaiba's opinion one way or the other.

But something told Kaiba that even if he said no, Yugi would be relentless. "I'll look into it," he said. Yugi won the game effortlessly, and put his initials into the high score board.

* * *

Kaiba stood in his bedroom, tumbler of scotch in hand, as he looked at his closet.

What did one wear to a wedding? He hadn't been to one in years - his colleagues were already married, or long divorced. He hadn't even considered marriage to be a popular thing anymore. People still got married?

Mokuba was lounging on Kaiba's bed, flipping through a magazine. He was out of school now, and was a young adult. Kaiba had invited him to help him choose a suit for the occasion, hoping that a younger man would be more knowledgeable on what was 'hip', but Mokuba seemed hopeless as well. He seemed more interested in Yugi than helping Kaiba.

"Yugi's really back?" Mokuba said excitedly. Kaiba looked over at him. His brother was giving him an expectant look, which creeped Kaiba out. "Did he say anything? Did he say he was going to duel again? I want to duel him!"

"Nothing of the sort," Kaiba muttered. "He just wanted to invite me to this stupid wedding."

"I want to go to the wedding!" Mokuba exclaimed. Kaiba scowled. "Why didn't they try to contact us? Send an invitation? It's been so long since I've seen them!"

"You can call them and ask," Kaiba said, taking a sip of his drink. Yugi had given Kaiba his number after they had parted ways, even though Kaiba had insisted against giving Yugi his. His fingers tightened around his glass. What was Yugi trying to achieve by inviting Kaiba to this wedding…was this all a trick to get revenge for how Kaiba treated him on that day?

No. Yugi wasn't the vengeful kind of person who would do that. Especially not after ten years. He took another sip of his drink.

Jounouchi might be, though.

He reached forward and grabbed out a simple gray suit. Snappy, yet understated. He threw it towards Mokuba, who fumbled to catch it. "Have that sent out to get pressed, Mokuba. I need it by Saturday."

"Sure thing."

The bedroom door closed behind his brother and Kaiba set his drink down. He would have to buy a gift, but he had no idea what would even be on the guy's registry…duel monsters cards? Surely not. He was an adult now. Without any idea of what to get Jounouchi, Kaiba felt unwilling to blow money (as meaningless as it was to him) on a pointless gift.

He looked over at the slip of paper on his desk. He lifted the phone up to his ear. The dial tone sounded, and then the voice of an…_acquaintance._

"Hello?"

"Tell me what Jounouchi has on their registry."


	4. Chapter 4

Kaiba stood at the back of the church, watching Jounouchi squirm at the altar, waiting for his bride to be escorted down the aisle. Yugi, Kaiba's only true colleague in the building, was sat up front, as he was the best man, leaving Kaiba high and dry amongst a bunch of people he didn't even know or care to remember. Yugi had invited him to sit up front, and as much as Kaiba's ego wanted him to, he refused.

He had half a mind to leave while Yugi was distracted. He could just make out his ridiculous hairstyle through the crowd, and despite knowing it was Yugi, it sent a painful jolt through his chest. Lingering on him too long made Kaiba feel like he was ten years in the past, sitting on a boat for three days.

"Kaiba?"

Kaiba turned to the person who had sidled up next to him without him noticing. It was Ryou Bakura, who Kaiba hadn't even thought about in the ten years he had been away. He vaguely recalled the boy's affliction being similar to Yugi's – host to an ancient spirit of the past. Logically, it made no sense, but Kaiba knew better now.

"Bakura," Kaiba said, nodding in greeting. Bakura nodded back, lips pursed slightly, as if he were waiting for Kaiba to speak. Kaiba reluctantly indulged him. "It's been quite a long time."

"I didn't believe Yugi when he told me that he had gotten you to come to the wedding," Ryou admitted. Kaiba stewed over that slightly - Yugi had been telling people that he was going to this idiot's wedding? He was lucky that they weren't as famous as they used to be, or else there'd be reporters and hundreds of eager kids waiting outside the doors. Ryou looked away, his gaze lowered. From Kaiba's height, he could see just how long the man's eyelashes were against his cheek. Kaiba almost couldn't believe that this had been the boy that had harbored his rival's once great enemy. If he were honest, he'd admit he felt jealousy over never being the biggest rival. But he wasn't. "We all thought for sure that you'd hurt yourself after Atem left. I mean, we knew you weren't dead, but…"

Kaiba was surprised at how forward Ryou had been. Unlike Yugi, Ryou got right to the point. "Well, I didn't, so." Kaiba said, a little more scathingly than he had intended, but he supposed that was part of his nature.

"And we're all glad about it. Still." Ryou nodded rigorously, and Kaiba merely shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. He had a hunch that Ryou didn't care about Kaiba as much as he let on. This felt like pleasantries - useless chitchat, basically, so not worth Kaiba's time.

Ryou had other ideas, it seemed. "You know, I'd like to talk to you about something," the white-haired man said, crossing his arms and leaning forward slightly to peer at Kaiba's face, which was focused forward. "Um, if it's not too much trouble, I mean."

Kaiba had a bad feeling about that, but he couldn't place why. If it was going to be a heart-felt talk about _feelings_, then Kaiba was wholly uninterested. "I'm not going to talk about my feelings with you," he snipped, casting him a side-long glare. "Especially not about events that took place a decade ago."

"It's kind of important," Ryou insisted, not backing down. His insistence made Kaiba positive that his inkling was correct – Ryou wanted to discuss Yugi…_Atem _for some reason. Kaiba clenched his jaw - this guy was persistent, much like Yugi. And just as annoying.

"Fine, but I'm a busy man - I'm not even supposed to be here, you know."

"I know, I know."

—

The wedding went on without hitches. Jounouchi and Kaiba met eyes once and _only_ once, which was more than enough for Kaiba. Kaiba felt something upon seeing Yugi's crying face while Jounouchi kissed his new bride, but he wasn't sure if it was distaste or sadness or _whatever _churning his stomach.

Kaiba opted out of the after party, not interested in mingling with people from his teen years. Apparently, neither did Ryou, because the man followed Kaiba for several blocks before Kaiba finally turned around on the sidewalk and caught him by the shoulder, giving him a glare. "Okay. If whatever you want to talk about is so important that you'd follow me this far, then talk."

Ryou was not deterred by Kaiba's aggression. He sized him up, actually, giving him the once-over. He had matured quite a bit from the whole ordeal ten years ago.

"Can we talk about it somewhere else?" Ryou seemed nervous now when Kaiba did not back down, fingering the cuff of his sleeve.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "No, we can't." He wasn't going to give Ryou the satisfaction of cornering him somewhere private. More intimate. Somewhere where he may let his façade slip. He did, however, allow them to slide to the side of the sidewalk, leaned against a wall.

Ryou seemed out of his element, but Ryou had never been much of a people person. Very quiet, very…strange. He had a penchant for the supernatural, if Kaiba remembered correctly. Never something that interested him.

"Um…it's about Atem. And I guess my other self, too, but…you didn't really know him, so. Mostly Atem."

Hearing the white haired man say his name felt disrespectful, somehow, but Kaiba held his tongue. He didn't like where this was going even though they had just begun talking. Kaiba nodded for Ryou to continue regardless, staring at him stonily. Let him say his peace. It'd been ten years, after all.

"But. You know, I've been doing a lot of research. A lot of soul searching." He laughed a little, as if it was a joke. Kaiba was deadpan, eyes glazing over. Ha ha. Hilarious. "But I've gotten pretty in tune with that kind of thing. Talking to the spirits. You know."

"I don't," Kaiba said evenly. He had a feeling he did know, but he didn't want to know. He honestly did not. He had only met up with Yugi again a week ago, and he already regretted it. "I don't know, so just tell me, Bakura."

Ryou winced at the formalities. "I've been talking to the spirits. Like Atem, and my other self. We haven't had long conversations, but I've got contact."

A chill went up Kaiba's spine, startling him. "Does Yugi know about this?"

For the first time in the last few minutes, Ryou looked up at Kaiba, catching his gaze. There's something hauntingly beautiful about Ryou's pale complexion, like the man's a ghost himself. "I have. He's not interested, though. He wants Atem to rest. But…but _you_-" He paused, and licked his lips, looking expectant. Kaiba felt like he was going to boil over like a pot of water. "You're different, right?"

"Never talk about this to me again." Kaiba regretted the words the minute they slipped from his mouth. As he turned on his heel and skulked down the sidewalk, to who knows where, the bubbling feeling nearly overwhelmed him. Despair. Loneliness. He nearly collapsed on the sidewalk from how his knees buckled beneath him. Thankfully, he kept his composure until he was safely inside his home, where he knelt down upon entering, hands rubbing slowly at his head.

He knew exactly what Ryou had been suggesting. Even if it was all fake, the thought of speaking to Yugi…the Yugi he knew…was tempting. He wanted to know, he wanted to know so desperately – why Yugi? Why not him? Even after ten years, the jealousy ate away at him. Seeing all these people from his high school days just reopened old wounds, and Ryou's offer was salt pressed right against them.

He wondered if Atem was happy again. Was he at peace now?

Since when did he care about the happiness of his rival, anyway?

"Seto!" He looked up as Mokuba came padding over in his blue eyes white dragon slippers that Kaiba had long outgrown, but still fit his younger brother. "How was the wedding?" He paused. "Why are you on the floor?"

"It was fine," Kaiba growled. As he pushed himself up, his body felt heavy. "The idiot actually got married. I was surprised he wasn't left at the altar."

"So mean," Mokuba chastised, but he snickered anyway. Despite his sarcastic tone, there was a look of concern in his eyes. "Where's Yugi?"

"Who knows," Kaiba muttered, pushing past Mokuba towards the stairs. He needed a drink.


End file.
